A week ago, a Palestinian journalist wrote the following: "The Israeli attack makes no sense. So they bomb the homes of members of the resistance (Hamas and other terrorist organizations) - this is understandable. Bombing the nearest family circle - this can be understood. But this time they are also bombing the homes of distant relatives. Israel is doing something crazy. It's revenge."
Other Palestinian journalists referred to IDF raids as "failed" attempts at a ground incursion. "The forces called for air support and withdrew," one of them wrote of a naval commando raid in southern Gaza. By Friday night, they were hysterical about the media disruptions, quoting verses from the Koran. One wrote: "The situation in Gaza is very difficult, we will die in the streets."
Assassination of the commander of the naval force of the Gaza Brigade in Hamas // Photo: IDF Spokesperson
Gaza oscillates between denial and anxiety. After all, raids are naturally designed to end with the return of troops. As for the attack, the attack on the distant circle is not an end in itself but the result of a broader operation. Streets in Gaza City are upside down (because of the tunnels), buildings have been flattened (because of the headquarters). Luxury neighborhoods were destroyed. Thousands killed. Hundreds are trapped under the rubble. Hundreds of thousands fled. However, in many parts there was no significant damage.
They dream of external intervention. Senior Hamas figures call for a ceasefire. They call for help from the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, to help Israeli Arabs (who rejected this), to help the Arab world. The assistance they have received has so far been limited, certainly compared to what they had hoped for. On Thursday, Haniyeh half-blamed the Arab world for the silence. He asked them to preserve the legitimacy of Hamas. And on Friday night, demonstrations in the Arab world in front of empty Israeli embassies. "Gaza was left alone," admitted a Hamas insider, fantasizing about the disintegration of the Palestinian Authority. An Egyptian journalist concluded: "Iran betrayed, Hezbollah betrayed, Gaza was left alone."
The destruction in Rafah, photo: AFP
There's a lot of talk about the concept in Israel, but Gaza was also gripped by conceptions. That it is sufficiently fortified. Booby-trapped enough. That Israel will not enter the ground even after the mass slaughter in the western Negev. That the Jews are colonialists who will flee to Europe. Instead, they received countless reservists who flew to Israel. Every failed or successful test balloon by Qatar allows them to cling to one of these illusions. It is doubtful whether they thought about the possibility of short, continuous raids in preparation for a large ground incursion.
On Saturday night, the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, may have been hanged on his last card – the Israeli hostages. In a message to the Arab media, he allegedly offered a comprehensive deal to release all the abductees in exchange for all the security prisoners in the prisons. On the one hand, this is a continuation of the brutal psychological warfare employed by the murderous organization, on the other hand, here too the pressure under which Hamas is in its new phase of the war is evident. The goal is to extricate itself from the campaign for a prolonged ceasefire, in order to begin the process of re-empowerment.
And this too is important to say: Hamas can be destroyed. This is a process that will take time, but one should not listen to television commentators who sow demoralization, those who have told us in the past that "Hamas is deterred." There are three goals that can be accomplished in order to realize the goal in its basic sense: the elimination of the leadership, the elimination of military capabilities, the collapse of the government. Israel is capable of this. As the security leadership has made clear: this goal does not necessarily contradict the return of the hostages. Maybe just the opposite.
Attacks in the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, photo: AP
The same commentators now say that Hezbollah is deterred, that the enclave of the Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon is interested in the crumbling state at all. He is not, and he is determined to avenge his more than 40 deaths. Therefore, it is good that the IDF is prepared and has abandoned philosophies. Hezbollah's mouthpieces in the Lebanese press should not be trusted too much. Just be alert and prepared.
Finally, before talking about the future of Gaza, Israel must rehabilitate the kibbutzim, settlements and cities in the western Negev. Such an important effort that it should be defined as one of the goals of the war. That will be the real picture of victory.
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